Volume 64 contains six comprehensive reviews covering key contemporary topics on crop and soil sciences. As always, the topics are varied and exemplary of the array of subject matter covered by this long-running serial. With this latest volume, Advances in Agronomy continues to be recognized as a leading reference and as a first-rate source of the latest research in agronomy, crop science, and soil science. - Cytogenics and genetics of pearl millet - Comprehensive look at advances in ICP emission and ICP spectrometry - Cotton growth and nitrogen supply - Sources and behavior of arsenic in the soil environment - Dryland cropping intensification methods - How plant roots acquire mineral nutrients

Finalist for the National Book Award An intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartland The Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less than a century of unsustainable irrigation farming has taxed much of the aquifer beyond repair. The imminent depletion of the Ogallala and other aquifers around the world is a defining planetary crisis of our times. Running Out offers a uniquely personal account of aquifer depletion and the deeper layers through which it gains meaning and force. Anthropologist Lucas Bessire journeyed back to western Kansas, where five generations of his family lived as irrigation farmers and ranchers, to try to make sense of this vital resource and its loss. His search for water across the drying High Plains brings the reader face to face with the stark realities of industrial agriculture, eroding democratic norms, and surreal interpretations of a looming disaster. Yet the destination is far from predictable, as the book seeks to move beyond the words and genres through which destruction is often known. Instead, this journey into the morass of eradication offers a series of unexpected discoveries about what it means to inherit the troubled legacies of the past and how we can take responsibility for a more inclusive, sustainable future. An urgent and unsettling meditation on environmental change, Running Out is a revelatory account of family, complicity, loss, and what it means to find your way back home.

National Bestseller Most travelers only fly over the Great Plains--but Ian Frazier, ever the intrepid and wide-eyed wanderer, is not your average traveler. A hilarious and fascinating look at the great middle of our nation. With his unique blend of intrepidity, tongue-in-cheek humor, and wide-eyed wonder, Ian Frazier takes us on a journey of more than 25,000 miles up and down and across the vast and myth-inspiring Great Plains. A travelogue, a work of scholarship, and a western adventure, Great Plains takes us from the site of Sitting Bull's cabin, to an abandoned house once terrorized by Bonnie and Clyde, to the scene of the murders chronicled in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. It is an expedition that reveals the heart of the American West.

In this comprehensive new text, Chris Mayda offers an exciting alternative to conventional North American geographies. Throughout her thorough discussion of the physical and human geography of the United States and Canada, the author weaves in the key themes of environment and sustainability. Her inclusive and cohesive narrative highlights not only the diversity and richness of each region but the fundamental connections that link the continent. In the course of her research, Mayda traveled to every state and province in the United States and Canada, imbuing her writing and photographs with authenticity and immediacy. She traces the problems each region faces but also illuminates the positive actions that Americans and Canadians are taking to position their countries as healthy leaders in the world economy. Combining incisive analysis, rich description, human stories, and vibrant photographs, this text offers a complete and vivid portrait of the region from human, physical, and cultural perspectives. Designed expressly for ease of teaching and learning, the book features four-color photographs and maps throughout, chapter highlights, key term and place listings for each chapter, discussion questions, and a glossary, plus PowerPoint slides, and a sustainability blog on the book's website: http://everythingisconnectedblog.wordpress.com/.